Clovis man charged in mother's slaying

A Clovis man was charged Friday in Fresno County Superior Court with stabbing his 77-year-old mother to death on Thursday.

In addition, Eric Tidrick, 49, faces a special-circumstance allegation that he had been convicted of murder in Fresno County in 1978. He was 17 at the time of the conviction, a criminal complaint said.

If convicted, Tidrick faces life in prison. He is being held in the downtown jail without bail. He will make his first court appearance Tuesday.

Clovis police received a 911 call just after 2 a.m. Thursday from a man who said he had just killed his mother, spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee said.

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When officers arrived at the apartment near Barstow and Villa avenues, Tidrick came out with one arm behind his back and appeared to be holding a weapon, Stoll-Lee said. Officers determined the weapon was a drill, not a handgun.

As he moved toward officers, he was hit by an electronic stun dart fired by the officers, Stoll-Lee said. He was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of murdering his mother, Ladonna Tidrick.

Details about Eric Tidrick's 1978 conviction were not immediately available.

He has had other brushes with the law, including a felony conviction for cultivation of marijuana in 2003. He pleaded no contest to charges of growing the marijuana and served several months in jail before he was put on probation and ordered to enroll in a program at Poverello House.